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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “rest api customizer”

wp.org orders by popularity, so a plugin a host bundled onto millions of sites, or a big-brand one that's slow and mediocre, can sit at the top. Our ranking is built to answer a different question: which of these is actually worth installing. How this works →

For “rest api customizer”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 4 plugins are pushed down for signals wp.org ignores: errors, a host-installed base, or removal risk.

wp.org search ranks on

Install count (uncapped), the raw star average, freshness, and support. Popularity dominates, so the biggest install base usually wins regardless of how it got there.

We add

A cap on the install boost, volume-weighted ratings, and signals wp.org can't see: whether it throws errors on current PHP, whether the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

WPEPP – Essential Security, Password Protect & Login Page Customizer shows at wp.org #8 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 3K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.1★ average from 19 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk places #5 on merit, 4.8★ from 3220 reviews, but shows at wp.org #10. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Kirki – Freeform Page Builder, Website Builder & Customizer 500K+ · 4.5★ (81) wp.org #1 2 YayMail – WooCommerce Email Customizer 50K+ · 4.8★ (291) wp.org #2 3 LoginPress | wp-login Custom Login Page Customizer 200K+ · 4.8★ (1077) wp.org #3 4 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3220) wp.org #10 5 too low 6 Advanced Shipment Tracking for WooCommerce 70K+ · 4.5★ (355) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 EmailKit – Email Customizer for WooCommerce & WP 70K+ · 4.7★ (15) wp.org #4 3 too high 8 Simple History – Track, Log, and Audit WordPress Changes 300K+ · 4.9★ (491) wp.org #13 5 too low 9 Activity Log – Monitor User and Agent Changes 200K+ · 4.3★ (74) wp.org #7 2 too high 10 hCaptcha for WP 70K+ · 4.6★ (88) wp.org #9 1 too high 11 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #11 12 Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed – Easy Social Feeds Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4358) wp.org #16 4 too low 13 WP ULike – Like Buttons, Voting & Engagement Analytics 60K+ · 4.8★ (283) wp.org #14 1 too low 14 Germanized for WooCommerce 70K+ · 4.8★ (496) wp.org #23 9 too low 15 SVG Support 1M+ · 4.8★ (356) wp.org #17 2 too low 16 WPEPP – Essential Security, Password Protect & Login Page Customizer 3K+ · 4.1★ (19) wp.org #8 8 too high 17 Email Template Designer – WP HTML Mail 20K+ · 4.8★ (87) wp.org #22 5 too low 18 Orbit Fox: Duplicate Page, Menu Icons, SVG Support, Cookie Notice, Custom Fonts & More 100K+ · 4.8★ (317) wp.org #24 6 too low 19 Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode by Colorlib 5K+ · 4.7★ (42) wp.org #12 7 too high 20 Theme Switcha – Easily Switch Themes for Development and Testing 7K+ · 4.4★ (63) wp.org #21 1 too low 21 FluentAuth – Login Security, Two-Factor Authentication, Passkeys & Social Login 10K+ · 4.1★ (35) wp.org #15 6 too high 22 MxChat – AI Chatbot & Content Generation for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (31) wp.org #18 4 too high 23 TrackShip for WooCommerce 6K+ · 4.7★ (52) wp.org #20 3 too high 24 Smart Customizer for WooCommerce 50+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 5 too high

Merit ranking caps the install boost at 1M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted Bayesian score and a Wilson lower bound, and keeps wp.org's own freshness and compatibility decays. Method from the plugin-directory source; see Meta Trac #8298. Positions are tracked daily from the first visit to a keyword, so the small arrows show movement since tracking began.